Tennessee delegation

As Diane Black runs for the Republican gubernatorial nomination, she has missed more than a third of floor votes in the U.S. House of Representatives this year, reports The Tennessean. That’s far more than the rest of the Tennessee congressional delegation and more than seven of the eight other congressmen running for governor in other states.

U.S. House Republicans are at each other’s throats after the Freedom Caucus delivered a shock to party leaders on Friday by killing a key GOP bill over an unrelated simmering feud over immigration, reports Politico. Thirty Republicans joined all Democrats in opposing the Agriculture and Nutrition Act, better known as the farm bill.

In the Tennessee House delegation, Republican Rep. John J. “Jimmy” Duncan of Knoxville, voted no along with Democrats Steve Cohen of Memphis and Jim Cooper of Nashville. The other six Tennessee representative, all Republicans, voted yes. The bill got 198 yes votes versus 213 noes. (Roll call vote HERE.)

Democrat Phil Bredesen would become one of the wealthiest members in Congress if the former Tennessee governor is elected to the U.S. Senate, according to financial disclosures filed Friday and compared to Roll Call’s most recent report on the wealth of current members of the U.S. House and Senate.

The Tennessee congressional delegation split in voting on a $1.3 trillion federal spending plan that passed the U.S. House 256-157 on Thursday and the Senate 65-32 early Friday morning. The measure funds the government through Sept. 30.

In the House, yes votes in the Tennessee delegation came from Republican Reps. Chuck Fleischmann of Ootelwah, Phil Roe of Johnson City and David Kustoff of Germantown along with Democratic Rep. Jim Cooper of Nashville.

The Tennessee no votes came from Marsha Blackburn of Brentwood, Diane Black of Gallatin, John J. “Jimmy” Duncan of Knoxville and Democrat Steve Cohen of Memphis.

U.S. Rep. Diane Black, who is running for the Republican gubernatorial nomination, has missed 29 of the 101 votes taken on the House floor so far this year – more than any other member of the Tennessee congressional delegation, reports The Tennessean. Runner-up in missed votes – 11 — is Rep. Marsha Blackburn, who is running for the U.S. Senate.

The seven other members of the state’s U.S. House delegation have cumulatively missed just 12 votes this year.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – U.S. Senators Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) and Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) today spoke with a group of Nashville songwriters about legislation they introduced earlier this year to help ensure songwriters are paid fair market value for their songs. The legislation – the Music Modernization Act – would set up a new simplified licensing entity to make it easier for digital music companies to obtain a license to play songs and ensure songwriters are paid the royalties they are owed.

About a dozen Democrats and Republicans prayed and sang “Amazing Grace” during a solemn ceremony Friday at the site where the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated nearly 50 years ago, marking the start of a three-day congressional “pilgrimage” to sites with ties to the civil rights era in the South, reports the Associated Press.

U.S. Rep. Diane Black, former House Budget Committee chair who is now running for governor, skipped voting on the $400 billion budget that stopped a brief federal government shutdown on Friday. The Tennessee congressional delegation was otherwise split in the voting.

In the House’s 240-186 vote, Republican Rep. Jimmy Duncan of Knoxville voted no along with Democratic Rep. Jim Cooper of Nashville. The state’s other Republican congressmen – Reps. Marsha Blackburn of Brentwood, Scott DesJarlais of South Pittsburg, Chuck Fleischmann of Ooltewah and David Kustoff of Memphis – voted yes and were joined by Democratic Rep. Steve Cohen of Memphis.

U.S. Rep. Phil Roe said in Washington Monday that he will decide in the “next week or so” whether to run for a sixth term, reports Roll Call, adding that there’s already some speculation underway on who might run to replace him. Names dropped include two state representatives and Dallas Cowboys tight end Jason Witten.